Martin Luther King Jr vs Jonathan Edwards
by ThatxGirlxThere
Summary: This was just an English assignment that I had to do. This is just a comparison of both of their speeches.


**Martin Luther King Jr. vs. Jonathan Edwards**

While both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jonathan Edwards were trying to prove important points from their times, they had completely different styles when it came to expressing these opinions. During their times, the points that they made would be considered by people, but today it's not necessarily the case. Most people today would sill listen to everything that Martin Luther King, Jr. had to say.

There are multiple reasons why Dr. King is considered one of the nation's greatest orators. He was always very set in his beliefs. He wouldn't even consider surrendering because he believed that he had to get his point across. He even repeated some of his points multiple times including when he said, "I have a dream today," to make his points more clear. Another thing that really helped prove his points was the fact that he had remarkable diction. He phrased things in ways that showed exactly how determined he actually was. He also quoted things in such a way that it seemed to almost become his own. "Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring." That line alone showed exactly what his goal was with the situation he was involved in.

While both Dr. Kind and Jonathan Edwards had completely different styles of speech, they still did have something in common. Both of them were very set on a specific goal that they had in mind. They knew exactly what they wanted to accomplish and they both tried their hardest to do so. "One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners on American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition," and "In short, they have no refugee, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God," basically describes the points of both of their speeches. Another thing that they have in common is that they both used situational irony. On Dr. King's part, it was how everybody was supposed to be equal, yet Negros were treated horribly. For Jonathan Edwards, it was that humans went against God, yet he was the only one keeping them from descending into the fiery pit of hell. Overall, they described things in a way that mainly suited the specific time period that they were from.

Though both Dr. King and Jonathan Edwards spoke in ways that made people from their times believe them, in general, the way they did things were very different. They were very different due to the fact that Dr. King clearly focused on the positives and ways to make things positive as opposed to Jonathan Edwards being purely negative. "I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream." Dr. King saying that showed show confident he was that people could make things right. "There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up." Jonathan Edwards's tactic was more along the lines of scaring people into doing what only he believed was right. The two men had entirely different diction to prove their points overall.

Both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jonathan Edwards had good arguments for the time periods that they had been around for, but they still approached things in entirely different ways. At the same time, some of the things that they actually did made the two of them somewhat similar. These are the main reasons why Dr. King would still be listened to in modern times.

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**A/N: This was just an English assignment that I had to do that's due tomorrow. I thought that I might as well post it. It may not be amazing, but it wasn't very easy to do. I may edit it at some point.**


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